I have been involved with Linux for almost ten years (as of 2004), and it has been a pleasure, mostly. Linux used to be one of the most motivating and fruitful computing entities I had come across, but I ended up working on the Solaris kernel for over two years, thereby distancing me from Linux for that period. Nonetheless, I keep coming across interesting Linux based devices such as the Empeg and the ProGear WebPad. Most of the information on this page is from my undergraduate days, since I cannot discuss most of the interesting Linux work I have done as part of my job(s).
Laudit
Laudit is a mechanism for having fun with system calls in the Linux Operating System. It consists of a loadable kernel module and a user level utility (written in Perl). Laudit implements a programmable framework that allows for a selective re-routing (also referred to as interception or overtaking) of system calls. The re-routing could be based on a number of parameters: process id, user id, executable name and so on.
Random Programming
Most of the programs and software packages I wrote during my school days ran on Linux, at least initially. Here is a list of some use[less|ful] code.
Hanoimania
Hanoimania is a crazy project which I assigned myself while I had nothing interesting to do. In this project, the Towers of Hanoi problem has been implemented in numerous languages, as well as in weird forms - like a toy operating system that runs Hanoi, a loadable bash (Bourne Again Shell) module, a system call, a Linux kernel module ... and more. Most of the initial implementations were done on Linux - even the toy OS first ran inside a PC emulator under Linux.
Publications
Here is a list of my writings and publications. Many of the early ones were about or influenced by Linux. For example, some apparently vague questions asked on the Linux Kernel Hackers Guide mailing list prompted me to write certain documents.
Security, Trust and Obscurity: A Tale of Few Bytes is a reflection on the kind of creative mischief open source software encourages. This document later evolved into a paper called Un*x Mischiefs: The New Frontiers.
The Intel Linux Lab
The Intel Technology Lab (Linux Lab) at the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, is where I spent most non-sleeping hours (I wonder how many sleeping hours there were, if any) of my undergraduate days. The Lab evolved from a single PC running Linux to a sophisticated installation serving the CS department for all their needs, and more! I played the humble role of a sysadmin/manager as destiny meted it out to me.
- Linux: Changing the Destiny of Man and Machine - a summarized saga of the Intel Linux Lab. The document describes how the lab came about and reached the stage it is in.
- The Hacker Trail - a document I wrote following some "cracking" incidents in the Intel Lab.
- The Intel Lab Survival Guide - a document I once wrote in an attempt to establish some guidelines for use of the Lab. Please note that this document is extremely context-sensitive, and may not be of interest to those unaffiliated with the lab.
- Intel Lab Lectures - a list of various lectures, birds-of-a-feather sessions, formal and informal discussions that I held during my stay at IIT Delhi. These sessions addressed issues both of general interst and of a specific nature.